Verbs - Modal Helping Verbs

The following are the most common modals:

CAN

To show ability	To give permission	To make a request	To show possibility
I canbowl real fast.	You can have dinner in your room.	Can you tell me where Rahul lives?	Sometimes a little appreciation can help a person achieve a lot of self confidence.

COULD

To show past ability	To make a suggestion	To make a request	To show possibility	In a conditional
I could bowl at 90 miles an hour when I was in my teens.	We couldgo to Simla for the office trip.	Could you please tell my mother that I will have dinner outside?	In the coming general elections, the voterscould choose to vote one of the major parties into power.	If I had saved some money, then wecould have gone to London for the vacation.

MAY

To seek permission	To give permission	To show possibility
May I sit down please?	You may leave the house after you have done your home work.	The postman may come with the parcel tomorrow.

MIGHT

To make a suggestion	To make a request	To show possibility	In a conditional
You might like to go through my article in the Indian Express.	Might I get some breakfast for myself?	The Damodars might be vacating their flat by the end of this month.	If I had known that you were in a fix, then I might have helped you get out of it.

WILL

To show future voluntary action	To make a promise	To make a prediction
I will see to it that the work is completed on time.	I promise that I willcall you on reaching Canada.	Both the teams have remained unbeaten in the tournament. Itwill be a closely contested final.

WOULD

To show regularity or repetition	As the past form of will	In a conditional
They would regularly meet in the canteen during recess.	They knew that it would be difficult to enter the party.	If I were you, then Iwould never do this.

SHALL

(commonly used with I and We)

To make a suggestion	To make a promise	To show an unavoidable future action or event
You must be really tired. Shall I help you carry your luggage? Shall we take the children along with us?	I shall always remember the kindness you showed towards me.	They shall be here at precisely 6 P.M.

SHOULD

To make a suggestion or recommendation; To give advice	To show some obligation	To show an expectation
When you go to Kerala for the vacations, you shouldmake it a point to visit the Guruvayoor temple. You should pay more attention in class.	This file should be on my table first thing tomorrow morning.	At this very minute, theyshould be boarding their plane for New Delhi.

MUST

To show certainty	To show a necessary condition	To make a strong recommendation
Mother said that she would be back by six. She mustbe the one knocking on the door.	You must study really hard to clear the entrance exams.	You must try on this new shirt. It is the new look of generation next.

OUGHT TO

To give advice	To show probability	To show an expectation
You are out of shape. You ought to start exercising regularly.	The sky looks black. Itought to rain heavily today.	He has worked so hard. Heought to get the due recognition.

[Note: Apart from the verbs ‘be’, ‘do’ and ‘have’, no other helping verb can act as the main verb in a sentence.]